A little history of the Rickreall Event Hall

 Built in 1923 (according to county record) as a High School, later it became the Rickreall Grade School up until 2002-2003, when it was closed as a public school. The school district rented out the building to a private Church & Academy for a few years. Eventually the Rickreall Grade School was sold in 2009 to us, a local family in Rickreall. One of the reasons we purchased the old grade school, was the hopes of keeping the building as part of Rickreall's community. I did not want to see it wiped away from our history for just another commercial building.

When we bought this old school it was very run down. There were holes in the gym ceiling, badly rotten floors by the entry doors, the roof was leaking, and some of the electric wiring was really messed up. The old boiler system that heated the building was very costly to run. We have done so many updates trying to preserve this beautiful old building. 
New roof, ceilings, windows, siding, flooring in most of the rooms, just goes on and on. The poor old thing was neglected, with a bit of love and a lot of elbow grease, not to mention family and friends help, it is now a beautiful venue. 

During updating and remodeling we have found doorways that had been sealed up in a few the walls, that really makes me wonder the original floor plan. Behind the stage had bare wood walls and had never been insulated so it was pretty cold in the winter. The wooden walls were full of signatures of past students. I took photos before adding insulation and drywall. But they are still there. Above the stage in the rafters were old wood framed and painted stage scene props, possibly for the beginning Christmas pageant. The fabric was very old and fragile, with more signatures on back.

Owning the "Event hall" is enjoyable for me, I like meeting new people and their families and helping out with their events. My hopes are to create a pleasant time to remember for years to come. 

REH use to host the Rickreall Christmas Pageant every year even after we purchased the building, but sadly they have retired, it ran 75 years and was a tradition for a very long time. 
The Rickreall Christmas Pageant ran from 1938 until 2015 with the exception of the World War II years (1942-44), the volunteers of the pageant presented the Nativity story annually at the Rickreall Event Hall. Before the school closed, school students had the opportunity to join in the pageant, many as angels.

Our two oldest children attended Rickreall Grade School when we first moved to Rickreall. Like my children, many students would help raise funds for the pageant, but once the school closed it was up to the pageant volunteers to raise money to keep it running. Even though I was never in the pageant, I did enjoy helping in ways I could while the pageant still ran at The Rickreall Event Hall a tradition for Rickreall every December.

Since we purchased this wonderful old building we have been doing overdue repairs like a leaky roof, rotted windows & siding. Little by little this old building is being preserved and upgraded.

Every year we have an extended family yard sale and two Community Vendor sales with local venders selling their creative creations and collectible iems.

It's amazing how many people I meet who have attended this school. Reminiscing the time they went to school here.

I want to thank all the people, family & friends who helped work on this old building and keep it going! A special thanks to my Dad, Benjamin Haynes who is now with our Father in heaven. He helped me so often with repairs and teaching me handi-man skills. This old building holds a place in my heart as it is filled with his hard work.